The importance of foot care to hikers cannot be easily overstated. Surely every hiker knows this and acts accordingly? Yet in the track notes that I read beforehand it was hard not to be struck by the number of references to foot problems. In some cases the writer was forever re-taping toes, or mentioning how hard it was to move because of blisters. In other cases friends who had joined them for a while were obliged to stop because of ailments amongst which foot problems featured prominently.
Why is this? Lack of time, lack of information or an excess of "it won't happen to me" optimism. Perhaps it is due to a macho "I can do this despite the pain" attitude. Well fine maybe you can, but you might actually enjoy it a little more with a little less pain.
So to help counterbalance at least the second of those reasons I'll add my tuppence worth. There is already a wealth of information out there, and feet being as varied as the people to whom they are attached, this may or may not be of much help to any one individual.
So for what it is worth I offer some information on what I do and wish you luck with what you do!
Footwear
I wore boots that I had already walked about 1500km in without any problems. These had a footbed (Superfeet Green) on which I had walked close to 5000km. I carried 4 pairs of wool socks. Two thick (Bridgedale), one medium (Icebreaker) and one thin (Merino "evening wear"). Over the top I put low gaiters to reduce dirt, stones and bits of plants or wood from getting into my boots.
I changed socks about every three to four days, sometimes less if drying conditions were good. I used talcum powder liberally during the first couple of weeks.
If I did it again I would reckon that three pairs of the Icebreaker socks would probably be sufficient as these dry quicker than the Bridgedale. I might drop down a bit of weight on the footwear to a sturdy trail shoe. I'd stick with the inner soles and the gaiters though.
Dressing
I put on my socks very carefully, making sure that there is no dirt or foreign bodies stuck to either feet or socks. In particular I check for seeds that might stick to the socks. I powder my feet and add a bit to the socks. I also make sure that there are no wrinkles in the socks. This is partly a function of care, but also requires socks to be the right size for both foot and boot.
Whenever possible I then wear the boots unlaced for a few minutes to let it all bed down. This seems especially important first thing in the morning when the boots appear to be a tighter fit.
If there is even a hint of something not right I fix it right then and there, even to the extent of taking the sock of and starting again with that foot.
Lacing
I tie my laces in a specific and consistent manner. First I get the lower part of the lacing adjusted correctly and then lock that section in. This requires that the hooks on your boots enable this. Secondly I lace upwards and then back down a couple of rows. Then I tie a bow. Finally I tie a double overhand knot with the loops to lock in the bow. I use 3mm cord for laces and carry some spare. The gaiters then cover all this neatly.
The result
I had one small (like 5c) blister behind one heel on day two. This lasted a day after careful treatment. After that nothing at all. No foot pain and no discomfort. This makes a massive difference when you are walking a long way.
Fixing your feet
This site is a valuable resource: http://www.fixingyourfeet.com/
In the bundle of notes I took with me was the advice from this website devoted to foot care. Although aimed at runners there is much that is applicable to hikers.
If there are only two things to take away from reading these notes they are:
1. Place foot care at the top of your priority list.
2. Prevention is better than Mitigation.
If you never let your feet get into a bad state then you will have a much more pleasant time of it.
Some steps to take
- Walk in tried and tested footwear. If you absolutely must wear something new then make it a brand and model with which you are already familiar and comfortable.
- Every component (Boot/Shoe/Footbed/Sock/Foot) must work together. You neglect any part at your peril.
- Keep your feet clean and preferably dry. Easier said than done admittedly.
- Where possible allow your feet to rest and air them when you stop.
- Keep your feet lubricated.
- Treat foot infections immediately.
- Trim toenails regularly and with care. I don't subscribe to the "cut straight across" maxim, but others do.
- Change and dry out socks regularly.
- Put your footwear on with great care every single time.
- Prevention, prevention, prevention.
- Become knowledgeable in how to treat problems if they do arise. You can use this knowledge to help others.
Last but not least
Beware of injuries around camp when you are not wearing boots. Be especially vigilant about treading on tent pegs or other sharp objects. Been there and done that!
Happy hikers always puts their feet first!
Last time I left Hendaye on the 10th August and this time it was the 15th. As I read the type of weather that all the summer walkers have endured, I really wonder why they do it. I had weeks of fine, stable, not-too-hot but sunny weather. I also had one good storm, some nights of cloud and maybe four days when actual rain fell. But in the overall scheme of things that's not much.
For what it is worth my rationale is simple:
- Winter - too much snow.
- Spring - too wet and cold.
- Summer - too hot and crowded.
- Autumn - just right and largely uncrowded!
I had better admit here that I am not constrained by when I can take holiday. And there can still be groups out on weekends.
In practice I can only speak based on two autumn seasons - one pretty marvellous and the other totally brilliant. Whether the extra awful spring in Europe this year (2013) contributed to an extra lovely autumn I can't say. I am told that it did lead to a mass of flowers all coming out at once in summer.
However apart from the first few hot days, when it made perfect sense to sit in the shade in the middle of the day, there was no time when I felt cooked. In the comments that I have read much of the discomfort people seem to suffer comes from heat more than cold. So later in the year seems to make sense to me. I also have a feeling that there are more, and more violent storms in summer than later in the year, but this is purely a supposition.
As I complete these notes in early November we have anjolyed more than a month of fine dry weather in the Eastern Pyrenees, so in a good year arriving in mid-late Oct should not be ruled out as an option. I saw people starting from Banyuls on the 24th September this year, who would probably be finishing about now.
With thirteen more years on the clock since the last time I did this, I had some concerns about the physical effort. In contrast I had no concerns about the mental effort or the solitude. So for the first week or so I deliberately eased into it, rested 5-10 mins each hour and started a regime of long lunch breaks (initially in the heat of the day) which I continued more or less uninterrupted until the end of the walk. And long means from one and a half to two hours, sometimes nearly three and once four! Sometimes I also had an afternoon tea break as well.
I'm also not much of an early starter (in contrast to Chris Upson you won't catch me saying "Once again I was up and on the trail before first light"*), and a good getaway was prior to 9am with 9:15am becoming something of a benchmark. I left when I was ready and not before. However I did on occasion walk late into the evening as there was a delicious light (until 8:30pm) and it was pleasantly cool.
I had envisaged trying to separate where I cooked from where I camped, but in practice this rarely happened, Las Illas being a notable exception.
Being consistently alone, I also walked more slowly and more carefully, especially on the descents.
However notwithstanding all of the above I went considerably faster with less effort. Overall nearly three weeks faster! Part of which can be explained by not doing some extra peaks (Mt Perdu, Pico d'Estats) and partly because this time I took not a single rest day! But mostly it was that I simply covered more ground each day as I was not restrained by the location of Refuges, and nor did I feel as tired.
* However in Nepal I have become a bit of an advocate for the early start, provided I have a clear plan for where I am stopping for breakfast. The last few mornings on my most recent Everest trek started around 5am just as it was getting light. A wonderful time of day, if you can handle the cold.
Now that I have done it twice, once using refuges and once with a tent and food, I'm in a position to say which I prefer, but can't really recommend either one to someone whose capacity and interests I do not know.
For me it is now a total no-brainer to go as independently as possible. I slept a whole lot better, and I ate better. Plus I was more intensely and enjoyable engrossed in the hike this way. I was happy to have had a few cabanes which were most fortuitously located just when the weather was at its most miserable. These were all empty except for the same French couple on two occasions. The gites I stayed in were fine and sociable, but I actually failed to get to sleep in either one. The campsites were bearable out of season but would be significantly less appealing at the height of summer.
There is no single defined HRP track so one can make of it what one likes, depending on your preferences, capacity, needs and style. Your initial choice may later need revision to accommodate the weather. Flexibility and adaptability seem important here. This could make arranging meetings with other people less precise, but I didn't have to contend with this issue. Habitually I have an extra day's food up my sleeve "en cas d'urgence".
As this was the second time I was doing the HRP I had the opportunity both to revisit places I knew (or thought I did) and also to explore new variants for the sake of novelty. And as I was deliberately not following any guide book I was entirely indifferent to whether people prefer Joostens to Veron or not. Furthermore as I was going to be largely (in the end it turned out to be entirely) independent of staffed Refuges, I didn't need to plan my days with reference to them either. In other words I was entirely free to do what I liked on foot between the beach at Hendaye and the beach at Banyuls. I merely had to keep an eye on which day of the week it was from a resupply point of view as shops are usually closed on Sundays, and especially Sunday afternoons.
However thankfully I had enough sense not to rely to any degree on my memory of what I had done thirteen years earlier. Rather I made use of the collected knowledge of a few others whose writings I had read (and carried with me to re-read), and some of whose tracks I had loaded into my GPS. These became my virtual companions on the trail. From time to time they differed, and I missed some when they went elsewhere and rejoiced when we all met once again.
The major changes from my previous traverse, when I largely followed the George Veron book, were in the Basque country (this time I went further south via Les Aldudes), and after Benasque (this time I passed to the south instead of to the north). I also did not go out of my way to climb any extra peaks that didn't lie on the path. I'd just climbed a couple of more serious mountains in Colombia and that had sated my appetite for the time being. I'd also be operating in full autonomy mode so didn't really need to stretch it further.
So for about 98% of the route I was with one or more of my digital companions. About three times I used a bit of road (descending initially into Andorra towards El Serrat, descending to Arles-sur-Tech and when leaving Le Perthus) instead of thrashing around on apparently confusing trails.
I did not record a new trail however as I lacked the battery capacity for that, but the record I made of places I camped will for the most part make clear the route I took.
Due to a record amount on snow earlier in 2013 I decided (once again) to take the southern variant direct from Biados to Benasque, as I was lead to believe I would have needed crampons on the French sections - and in any case I was running low on food.
